John Baird (26 May 1906 – 21 March 1965) was a British dental surgeon and Labour Party politician. Born in

Glasgow Glasgow is the Cities of Scotland, most populous city in Scotland, located on the banks of the River Clyde in Strathclyde, west central Scotland. It is the List of cities in the United Kingdom, third-most-populous city in the United Kingdom ...

, he was the son of Alexander and Mary Baird. After leaving school he worked as a coalminer, before attending St. Mungo's Medical School to study dentistry. He qualified in 1929, and was admitted to the Royal Faculty Physicians and Surgeons. In 1933, he married Agnes Kerr of Castle Douglas and the couple had two children. In 1928, Baird become active in Labour politics in Glasgow. He moved his dental practice to the north of England and then to the

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

area. At the outbreak of the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

in 1939, Baird joined the Army Dental Corps, reaching the rank of captain. He was elected to the

House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the Bicameralism, bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of ...

in the Labour landslide at the 1945 general election, when he defeated the long-serving Liberal MP Geoffrey Mander. When his constituency was abolished for the 1950 general election, Baird was returned to

Parliament In modern politics and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: Representation (politics), representing the Election#Suffrage, electorate, making laws, and overseeing ...

for the new Wolverhampton North East. He held that seat until he stepped down at the 1964 general election. In parliament he took an interest in health and social insurance issues. He was a strong opponent of racism, and also sought to form better relations with Communist countries, visiting the

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

and

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. According to John Callaghan, Baird should be "counted as the first Trotskyist MP" for assistance he gave to the Revolutionary Socialist League, later known as Militant. Pierre Frank commented that he "was always on our side".Frank, Pierre ''The Long March of the Trotskyists'' Baird died in a London hospital in 1965, aged 58.

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* {{DEFAULTSORT:Baird, John 1906 births 1965 deaths Labour Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies UK MPs 1950–1951 UK MPs 1951–1955 UK MPs 1955–1959 UK MPs 1959–1964 Alumni of the University of Glasgow Politicians from Glasgow 20th-century British medical doctors Royal Army Dental Corps officers 20th-century British dentists British Army personnel of World War I Military personnel from Glasgow